Huh? Are you even listening?
You might have heard someone close say this to you, or you have said this to someone yourself. Either way, you know that more than talking, it was the ‘listening’ that helped find resolution and build trust in a relationship.
It is the same that applies to businesses and brands. People talk on social media all the time. It is in your interest to actually listen!
Listening to, engaging in, and analyzing conversations and trends happening not just around your brand, but around your industry as a whole, gives you precious insights that can help you make better marketing decisions.
Social media listening is your launchpad to success on social media and in brand building.
So who should you listen to?
Your audience. Don’t guess; listen instead to find out what issues do they care about? How can you help solve their problems?
Active listening is the only way you can connect with them and influence them. It is how you make strategic moves to build your presence in a meaningful way.
In fact, listening will show you who really is your audience? How do they feel about your organization, or topics related to what product/ service you sell? Which are the trends and topics they’re passionate about and discuss online?
Observing opinions and discussions of the public can open huge potential of information for your business, especially if you know how to distill out the relevant information.
Use Social Listening Information for –
Getting feedback
Research consumer sentiment, get insights and an understanding of user opinion from conversations your customers are having that are related to your industry, product or service -why, where and how these conversations are happening; and what people are thinking in casual settings even when that are not mentioning your brand. You can use this information to fine-tune your customer service as well as social media strategy.
Identifying Opportunities
When you respond to customers who aren’t really expecting replies, you are grabbing an opportunity to floor them and make a deeply positive impression. Listening lets you find those opportunities and use the chances that come up. Respond to questions and queries in a timely manner for maximum impact.
Find Leads and Prospects
Figure out where your prospects and leads are hanging out. These could be platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Quora, Reddit, and such; where potential customers ask for recommendations and also talk about their most recent purchases and experiences. Other resources for social listening are the tools – ‘Social Mention’ and ‘Topsy’.
Building your Community
By engaging positively in conversations about topics relevant to your business, you build its reputation and personality and can nurture a community of enthusiasts and experts who become your audience.
Competition comparison
You won’t be the only one listening! Gain insight into who are your biggest competitors, how do their customers and social media followers feel about them and what is your differentiator. You can also understand what kind of content your competitors bring out and how they engage with their customers.
Build great content for your online store
As you identify sales-specific conversations and find keywords that are being used by your community, you will be able to use these and put together great articles, promotions, emailers, and messaging that resonate with your audience. Product and content research therefore is very well supported by social listening. Someone may not be addressing your brand directly, but talking about it somewhere.
Social media listening is about getting a bigger picture that can help
It helps you use the power of research to enhance your social media marketing efforts and improve your outcome. To be a good social media listener, you have to find the conversation rather than wait for it to come to you.
People are talking, are you listening?
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